


Hero of Earth and Fire

by battoff



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Disabled Character, Disabled Jake Dillinger, Genderfluid Chloe Valentine, Non-binary character, Trans Character, Trans Jake Dillinger, Trans Male Character, hey yall ready to drag me for this mistake because me too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/battoff/pseuds/battoff
Summary: High school can be hard when your legs are fucked up and you have no memory of the first five years of your life. But throw in shitty foster families and awful jocks and you can understand why Jake is eager for winter break. Although, things never go quite as planned. Good thing he has handy-dandy buddies Chloe Valentine and Dustin Kropp to help him out.





	Hero of Earth and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick notes: I haven’t finished Heroes of Olympus so this might not be super accurate. I might not even continue this but I had the following ready so enjoy I guess. 
> 
> Things to consider: Jake is a trans guy and autistic. Chloe is genderfluid and is ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive Type.

In all honesty, Jake probably shouldn’t have gone to school that day. It was the day before winter vacation started. Every single year that had passed included a bad event and he doubted today would be any different. The worst part was how it always ended up with him being sent to a new foster home. He shouldn’t have risked it—there aren’t many foster homes in New Jersey left to shove him in—but he wanted to go. He wanted to beat whatever stupid curse was plaguing him.

It was hard to ignore the fact that the universe hated him when, before he was fully awake, someone tugged his sleeping bag out from under him. He landed on his front with a _thump_ that resonated throughout his body. Balls of light flickered across his vision and he knew he had hit his head, too. Breath coming in shallow, he denied them the satisfaction of seeing him in pain.

“Rise and shine, Cinderella,” Cassandra, the daughter of his foster parents, called over the cacophony of snickers that was surely her brothers. “It’s a _big_ day today.” The cruel smirk could be heard from her tone and, just as quickly as they came, they exited his room in a disastrous flurry.

He picked himself up, sitting back against one of the walls to ground himself. His eyes glanced over his room that wasn’t technically a room. It had splintering floorboards, peeling wallpaper, and was barely big enough to fit a sleeping bag inside. After catching his breath he grabbed a pair of tweezers from his backpack to gingerly pluck splinters from his knees. With a heavy sigh, he couldn’t help but wonder if the day _could_ get any worse.

Cassandra, light blue eyes glittering with malevolent mirth, shoved him out the door the moment he made it downstairs so he’d feel his legs jostle in their braces. His teeth ground together to soothe his nerves. He knew she just wanted to catch him off guard to pelt him with the day’s rotten eggs.

He hobbled to a grey jeep that was blasting some random pop song where it sat half on the road, half on the pavement. The car shook with the force of the passenger door slamming shut.

“Drive,” he hissed.

“Roger that, skipper.” Chloe had a lollipop in their mouth that was surely occupying a majority of their attention and muffled their voice. “How was your morning?”

“Not that bad,” Jake lied through his teeth. They shot him a look, intimidating despite the sucker making their right cheek puff out. “Cassandra woke me up.”

They didn’t respond at first, probably thinking. Their fingers drummed against the steering wheel as if they couldn’t wait to do something else. That frightened him a little bit. To think that Chloe wasn’t actually focusing on the situation. The fear dissipated rapidly, though, like a cool desert breeze. He would entrust his life in Chloe Valentine. Maybe that _should_ scare him. But, inside the safety of a warm enclosed space, Jake could actually relax. He slumped against the seat, grateful for the fact that their dad sprung for seat warmers.

Chloe Valentine was, without a doubt, the most attractive person in Middleborough High School. They had long kinky hair with brown roots while the rest was bleached. Their eyes reflected light like a shattered kaleidoscope, constantly a different color. They also happened to be his best friend. The two of them had known each other since seventh grade when Jake was told no other foster homes in California would host him so he’d better try the east coast. They had really hit it off after landing detention together from getting in a fight with Lycus Carras. A strong bond they could never shake was born that day and they’ve been together ever since.

Now that friendship was becoming a pain in the ass seeing as Jake couldn’t brush off how terrible foster life was treating him. Chloe’s eyes, bubblegum pink then seafoam green, squinted at the road like they were calculating some probability. Math had never been their strong suit.

“Are you okay?” Chloe finally asked.

He looked out the passenger side window to watch the houses pass by. “Can we just not talk about it anymore?”

There was a _clink_ sound as the lollipop hit their teeth. Then a crack. They were done sucking on the blasted thing, the air bubbles had made themselves known and ruined the candy’s wonderfully smooth surface.

“Fine. How about,” they paused. Jake spared a glance at them. Their leg twitched where it was pressed against the gas in a way that he knew meant they were resisting the urge to bounce it. For a brief moment he wondered why Chloe bothered to drive if they were so hyperactive. But what did that matter, really? So he dropped the thought. “Chemistry?”

Jake’s nose scrunched up in distaste. “Don’t talk to me. I’m disowning you.”

Although, from how Chloe was laughing, it was obvious that it was simply an empty threat.

Lunch was banging.

High school students ran rampant in the cafeteria, some flinging the day’s lunch—quesadillas—at each other. The observing custodians wore morose expressions like masks as they watched yet another deconstructed quesadilla hit and stick to a wall. Kids handed the cashiers money for one cookie—no two—didn’t you hear? I said three!—while the cashiers gossiped about who knows what.

It was only a short twenty minutes of his day but it gave his life the semblance of something _normal_ for once. He cherished it. Even if it _did_ end with the shrill ring of the six period bell.

Chloe sat across from Jake. They raised an eyebrow as he slid them a chocolate chip cookie. He shrugged. “Well,” they muttered, “don’t mind if I cockle-doodle-do.” Jake snorted, breaking down into a fit of laughter. Maybe that was their intent. It would explain why they hid their smile behind a bottle of Fanta.

Once he calmed down he couldn’t help but go through the motions of watching Chloe toss a glob of ranch dressing into their salad container, close it, shake it, twist it, bop it, and open it again. A thoroughly coated piece of lettuce was pierced with their plastic fork and popped into their mouth. Jake himself could only bring himself to push around his enchilada.

A grass-covered hand manifested on his shoulder. “You gonna eat that, man?” Dustin’s concerned face filled Jake’s vision and body with heat. His hungry eyes did nothing to dilute the raw emotion he appeared to constantly exude.

Dustin Kropp was an interesting guy. He showed up during the middle of sophomore year out of nowhere. Just one day he wasn’t there and the next— _boom!_ —Dustin existed in Jake’s life. What made the situation even weirder was the fact that everyone else seemed to act under the presumption that their new student wasn’t new at all, Dustin had been in school and best friends with Jake since he joined the New Jersey foster system all those years ago.

Jake never felt like bringing up the subject to anyone because he knew it’d just end badly. They would probably call him an idiot or something much stronger. Plus it wasn’t as if he minded. Jake _liked_ Dustin. Perhaps it was how his red kinky hair reflected the light like fire or the fact that his dark complexion was dotted with freckles from spending all his free time under the sun. But there was something about his friend, something Jake couldn’t see or explain, that caused his very core to boil. But, like, in a good way. That, and he noticed Dustin walked with the same slow gait he did. He could just tell Dustin, for whatever reason, must have leg braces, too. Was it muscular dystrophy or a terrible car accident? He didn’t bother asking. Dustin would confide in him when he was ready. They _were_ friends after all.

Shaking his head, Jake forced a smile. “You’re always hungry, Dusty, but sure you can have it.” His friend snatched up his lunch before sitting down next to him. He followed the movement of Dustin’s hands only to find _both_ of them were covered in grass, not that that bothered him. “Dusty, dude, what the fuck is up with your hands? Did you find buried treasure or something?”

“Or something,” Dustin said, a blush burning high on his cheeks. He visibly swallowed as his eyes flitted over the cafeteria, gaze far away like he was calculating some math beyond mortal comprehension.

It was odd, that thought just now, that Jake actually considered it. Mortal. Human. Same difference. Right? So why did the back of Jake’s skull feel like someone was pounding it with a fire-hot hammer. It only ever did that when—

Dustin mumbled something around a mouthful of enchilada. His body was a steady weight against Jake’s right half. The red letterman jacket felt nice and cool in comparison to Jake’s feverish skin. He felt fingers brush the inside of his arm. When he looked up Dustin had this face on. He had seen it on his friend multiple times before during similar situations to this one. Oddly enough, Dustin _always_ knew when he was overthinking.

Jake was ready to brush it off but he hesitated. Those dark beady eyes turned golden with rectangular pupils. If only for a moment. It made Jake uneasy. The same way he usually was when it came to unrecognizable familiarity.

Before he could even decide what to say, Dustin draped the letterman jacket over Jake’s shoulders. “You’re shaking, bro,” he said, fumbling at the end to add the _bro_ like he was dismissing an unasked question.

Everything felt slowed down. Time was molten lava pooling around Jake, hot, yet never burning. Where the soles of his feet touched the ground, heat spiked like the core of the Earth wanted to explode out. His bones hummed with something he attributed to a tell for one of his meltdowns.

“Jakey?” Chloe called out. Fear made their voice lilt up.

Someone was behind him. Their presence made him break out into a cold sweat. Talons tugged him back, away from his friends. At least, they _felt_ like talons. But when he glared over his shoulder he found another human (if you could even call this guy that). The guy towered over Jake and his eyes shown with malevolent mirth.

“Come on.” He stared Chloe and Dustin down as if to say, _I dare you to stop me_ , before facing Jake again. “We have business to discuss.”

Jake wanted to throttle Lycus for dragging him away from lunch.

Lycus? Sound familiar? It should. Jake and Chloe got into a fight with him in seventh grade. But, for all it’s worth, Lycus Carras was literal human garbage. What with his stupidly pretty face and rotten personality. He had blond hair that he gelled back to oblivion and blue eyes so pale they almost looked inhuman. His pasty white skin somehow never burned during the summer and he always grinned like he was better than everyone else. He constantly bullied other students yet the teachers never reprimanded him because, of course, they loved the star quarterback.

“Stupid Anglo-Saxon,” Jake muttered under his breath.

Lycus’s lips curled in a cruel smirk reminiscent of Cassandra. “Did ya’ say something, Doppelgänger?”

“No.” His nose wrinkled in disgust. “And it’s Dillinger, Locusts.”

The jock’s smirk turned into a scowl for a brief moment before he calmed down. It was an odd image, Lycus being anything other than cocky. “Listen,” he said after minutes of silence, “I have a proposition for you.”

“Nothing good I imagine.”

“Shut up and listen.” He sighed into the air. Jake could’ve sworn his breath was smoke, the temperature of the hallway dropping in an instant. When he faced Jake his eyes were different. Electric blue sclera divided by vertical black slits. Although, the second Jake blinked his eyes were back to normal. “There’s been... a change of plans.”

“What plans?” Jake asked, fear crawling into his heart.

He was ignored. “‘Ve got orders from higher-ups if you know what I mean.” He wanted to say that, no, he had no idea what the other was saying. Biting back his tongue, he let Lycus continue. “Do you ever think you want to stop dealing with Cassandra’s bullshit? Leave this fucked up foster system that’s never done anything good for you? Do you want to more than survive?”

It was like ice water had been poured over Jake’s head. He couldn’t move. The hallway had dropped to about ten degrees. “How did you—?”

“I have my ways.” Lycus waved off the question. “The point is you can be better than you ever have been or will be. You can be more chill. Never take orders from anyone. Be in control of your own life—”

“Didn’t you just say you have higher-ups?”

Jake trailed off as Lycus punched the lockers he was leaning against, resulting in a loud slam. The sound rattled him and had his heart pounding in his chest. His brain briefly shut down as it processed that there was no actual threat.

Lycus was exceptionally close to him, breath turned to steam as it hit the cold air. Their gazes met and those eyes were back. This time they took three blinks to turn back. “That’s different,” the jock ground out. His voice was dangerously low like the hissing of a serpent. “Do you want to join us or not?”

Us. Lycus said _us_.

The humming in Jake’s bones had returned. A loud ring filled his ears. His hands came up to cover them but the noise persisted. He breathing turned shallow. Panic sat heavy in his veins when he realized he was _actually_ going to have a meltdown in front of the most ableist kid in school without Dustin to ground him.

Heat spiked around him. The inexplicable cold was just a distant memory. The floor beneath his feet turned burning hot like the world was about to split open. Then all he saw was red.

When his vision cleared Lycus was practically welded to the lockers opposite him. The jock groaned in pain and his perfect skin was covered in blisters. It was almost as if he was burned. Before he could recover from whatever had happened Jake took off.

He definitely didn’t want to be there when confusion turned to fury.

The school day had finally ended but, instead of ecstasy, Jake vibrated with fear. Every corner he turned held the possibility of Lycus waiting to pummel him back into the Earth.

Wait. Back into the Earth? Where had that come from?

The back of his head felt uncomfortably warm. His vision spun, becoming dark around the edges. What was happening to him today? Every other hour he was having dizzy spells. There was a creeping suspicion, a hushed voice in his ears, that told him something important was going to happen soon.

Suddenly Jake felt pressure against his left hand. He pulled his face away from the brick wall to find a pinky wrapped around his. “Chloe,” he whispered.

“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.” They smiled at him, eyes the warm color of a cackling hearth. Then their brow furrowed as their irises turned stormy grey. “What did Locust want with you?”

Jake shrugged because he honestly _didn’t_ know even though he felt a blacksmith pounding in his skull. There it was again. Whatever the universe was trying to warn him about was coming quickly and he didn’t understand a single thing.

He slipped out of Chloe’s grip, tactile stimulation overwhelming now. “I have something to do if you guys just wanna leave without me.”

“And catch a ride with who?” Dustin asked. He was frowning, nose twitching. Did he smell something? “Dude, we’ll just wait for you. Right Chlo.”

It wasn’t really a question but they nodded anyway. They started to walk away, only stopping to make sure Dustin was following them. He gave Jake a thumbs-up before trotting off after Chloe.

Jake shook his head as they left. Those two always relieved the constant tightness in his chest. He really did love them. Mr. Reyes appeared in his peripheral vision and brought him back to the matter at hand. The other reason he came to school despite the odds stacked against him. Moving as fast as his leg braces would allow, he entered the auditorium, walked down the rows, and joined the other theater kids painting sets onstage. He snatched a spare brush from a bucket and started to mimic the strokes.

A presence knelt next to him. “You made it.”

Jake practically melted as her sweet voice reached his ears. It was surprised yet content and filled with warmth. He turned to smile at Christine. The corners of her lips were curled up in a lopsided grin. “Of course I did. I wanted to lend a hand before winter break kicked in,” he told her. He looked at the other club members setting scenes with idle hands. “Is this all you’re doing today?”

“Yeah. Too many people are out today. Previous plans and all that jazz.” Christine did some jazz hands, a muffled chuckle causing his heart to skip a beat.

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

He dipped his paintbrush to continue creating an admittedly subpar home. “Do you have any plans over vacation?”

And would you like to make some with me? He thought hopelessly.

Christine bit her lip in an unfairly attractive manner that really shouldn’t make Jake blush considering the awful fluorescent lighting. “I, uh, I’m actually going to this camp. My birth dad is head counselor there and I only recently met him. I wanna get to know him better even if it’s hard.”

“Why would it be hard?” Jake cursed himself almost as soon as he asked the question. “Sorry. I get it, I guess. Parents are...”

_Homicidal?_

“They can difficult sometimes, yeah.” Christine laughed, although it was clear that her heart wasn’t into it.

He felt his gut twist uncomfortably at the thought that he had upset her with a stupid query. He wanted to keep talking with her, to get to know her. He’d known about her for three years and he _still_ didn’t know anything about her that wasn’t common knowledge amongst the theater kids.

Like, Jake knew Christine Canigula had been the president of the drama club since freshman year when her family moved to New Jersey. She had straight black hair that fell to her shoulders and a face dotted with beauty marks. Her complexion was darker than Jake’s, probably because she tended to her family’s garden and took it upon herself to plant trees around Middleborough. She had eyes that he could only compare to purple fire: flickering with heat while giving him the sense that they could burn him. She was impulsive (“It’s the ADHD,” she explained to him once), making gestures and comments that Jake could relate to but never dared mimic.

Long story short, he was obviously in love. So Jake did his best to attend drama club meetings, offered to do odd jobs for Christine, bought vegetarian hot pockets when Mr. Reyes couldn’t, you get the gist. But now, in the awkward fluorescent lighting of the auditorium, he was becoming privy to Christine’s life. A glimpse into a life no one else in New Jersey knew. At least, a small portion of it.

Christine cleared her throat. There was a moment of confusion before Jake’s face glowed bright red. He had been caught staring. She didn’t mention it, instead choosing to continue with their conversation. “Mr. D is cool, though.”

“Mr. D?”

“My birth dad. It’s weird, you know? Calling someone dad when they’ve only been in your life for so long.” She blew a strand of hair out of her face. “Plus, everyone at camp calls him that.” Then, there was a moment where Christine paused, as if mystified by the fact that she was telling Jake all this. “Why am I telling this to you?” Shaking her head, she smiled at him. “I guess a part of me knows you can understand what I’m going through.”

Something in the back of Jake’s mind told him that she was right to believe that, and it wasn’t just because they both had parental issues. The pounding headache was back, causing him to lose his balance. A pail got knocked over and splattered paint everywhere. Memories wanted to escape like spirits from the Underworld.

Christine _knew_ something.

He had to ask her. Ask her. _Ask her!_

The ringing in Jake’s ears muffled Christine’s concerned voice. Her touch felt distant. He vaguely heard the auditorium double-doors slam open. It jolted him back to reality. Air rushed into his lungs as he gasped.

“Doppelgänger,” Lycus shouted, his voice carrying down the aisles. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

Nearly all the students that had been painting dropped their brushes into random buckets and started inching their way towards the other exit. They all ran to the second set of doors before they could be stopped but Lycus paid them no mind anyhow. He was too busy glaring at the stage where Christine stood over Jake. The auditorium was uncomfortably still. Both sides were waiting to see who would make the first move.

Despite his terribly shaky legs, Jake got up onto his feet. The fact that Lycus was still covered in blisters made pride grow in his chest. “If this is about before,” he started, voice oddly calm, “then sorry you can’t handle being told no.”

“You made a mistake.” Lycus spoke with such earnest sincerity that Jake couldn’t respond at first, too shocked to form words. It was almost as if the jock actually might have felt sorry for him. “My masters have no mercy for non-believers.”

He turned back to look at Christine but her face was a hardened expression. Her lips were pressed together in a straight line. Her purple eyes glowed dimly with a faraway gaze. The stage lights that shown down gave her skin a bronze glow. Finally, after about five minutes, her eyes lit up. “What do you want? Lunch money?”

Lycus scoffed like the question offended him somehow. “You know what I want.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t.” Christine denied him with such certainty Jake almost believed her. Her purple eyes gaining brightness by the second, however, convinced him otherwise. “Mr. Reyes?” The man in question apparated out of nowhere, a vegetarian hot pocket knock-off in hand. He grunted around a mouthful. “Please escort this heathen out of this sacred hall.”

Sacred hall? Jake mouthed at her but she ignored the silent question.

Mr. Reyes didn’t seem bothered by the request. He just audibly swallowed his snack and let out an annoyed sigh. Walking down the steps toward Lycus, he muttered something along the lines of, “Kids these days. Always ‘Guillermo’ this and ‘Guillermo’ that. When do _I_ get a break?”

Jake stood by and watched as the drama club counselor lifted his baton—no—he air around his hand flickered to reveal a club had replaced the normal dollar store baton the teacher always carried. Jake blinked, rubbed at his eyes, shook his head, but nothing he did changed the image. His teacher charged.

Lycus only glared at the man like he was an annoying gnat. As soon as he was in range, the jock blocked the blow with his bare arms. The force at which Mr. Reyes’s club came down on him should’ve broken his bones. Yet, there he stood, arms unbroken and furious aura radiating off his body. Jake could have sworn he heard Mr. Reyes say, “Oh Pan,” as Lycus turned the confrontation into an actual fight.

The jock fought like he had no form. Every movement he made, his body accommodated. It might’ve been a trick of the shitty lighting but Jake could’ve sworn that Lycus’s shape shifted as he saw fit.

Christine grabbed Jake’s shoulders, bringing his attention back to her. “Can you fight?”

“What?”

“You have to fight it!” In the distance Mr. Reyes crumpled to the ground with a shout. Her eyes burned brighter than ever although her gaze was a million miles away. “ _Nine pawns, two traded and two lost_ ,” she murmured, “ _Led by those that heat and sparks have embossed_.” Nothing she was saying made any sense to him yet pain spiked in his legs where burns that had long since healed. Jake gasped at the uncomfortable warmth, sweat beading on his forehead. Christine scowled, her lips pulling back in an unfamiliar motion. “Fine. Leave it to me.”

He couldn’t exactly stop her. She raised her right arm so her charm bracelet caught the light and, suddenly, it was gone. In its place, a staff tipped with a pine cone and entwined with ivy leaves rested in her left hand. Jake couldn’t see her face but, just from the way her entire body relaxed, it was obvious how in her element she was. She shouted a phrase in Greek before charging. Lycus turned to her calmly like she didn’t phase him.

Jake was just a spectator. His skull throbbed will sealed memories. Memories? No. For once he was sure that’s what the pain was. Things he couldn’t remember but needed to were beating at his skull. They wanted out. Triggers were surrounding him all day, perhaps even years before this one he just hadn’t made the connection. His leg braces turned hot like flames licking his skin. What he wouldn’t give to—

The idea came swift, a punch to his face. He crouched, rolled up his jeans, and began taking off his braces. Once they were in his hands they glowed bright red. The only color similar to it would be molten metal, hot, damaging. A shaky breath filled him with the scent of cold. He had to work fast. “Christine!” She turned slightly just enough to see Jake in her peripheral vision. She didn’t go back to fighting Lycus, didn’t question him. Her feet pushed her away from the jock just in time to cover her favorite teacher. Jake lobbed the pieces at Lycus, aiming for his stupid face. Instead they landed at his feet.

The jock grinned. “Really? Is that all you’ve got? You know, for Greeks—”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence. An undignified squeak rose from his throat as the ground opened up beneath him. He tried to grab the ledge of the crevice but his blisters began to smoke. With a shout Lycus disappeared beneath the earth.

The hole was already closing which made Jake feel better despite how exhausted he had become. He wanted to fall to his knees and rest. To give up even though the idea was absurd.

A shadow was cast across him. He raised his gaze to Christine’s purple eyes. “Come on.” She spoke solely to him. Mr. Reyes was knocked out and hung over her shoulder. Her eyes ignited fear in him—no, it was madness gnawing at his mind as he tore away from her gaze. She didn’t seem to mind. “We don’t have long before he reforms.”

And she was right. Where Lycus had been swallowed up a small swarm of locusts began to rise. They didn’t chance a glance back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol this was supposed to have indented paragraphs but ao3? won't? let me? it looks so much better in docs


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